"Everything is luck," said Leer Likuam on the edge of a shallow trench through a translator. On an average day he might dig up six grams, worth around 1,200 South Sudanese pounds ($270), he said. "Some days you're lucky."

Once he found a 200-gram gold nugget bigger than his thumb, boasts Likuam.

On the international market, Likuam's prize lump would fetch $11,000, an enormous sum in a country where the average teacher earns just 360 South Sudanese pounds, about $90, per month.

But now the government hopes to pass mining legislation that will formalize the industry, let them tax precious metal and mineral exports and sell concessions to large-scale investors. Read the complete article.

All images were captured by Reuters photographer Adriane Ohanesian in September and October 2012, but made available to NBC News today.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A shirt hangs in the window of a Sarko alcohol shop in Kapoeta, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A bowl holding small flakes of gold sits in the middle of Singaita River in Namorinyang, South Sudan.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

A view of the Singaita River which flows down from the Lauro mountains and through Kapoeta, South Sudan.